EASY question--first post!

[jeyou2]

hello---
  this is my first time to post something, so not sure if i'm doing it right.  i have a 5 1/2 month old and am about to pull my hair out.  she has been a PERFECT sleeper until we went away for christmas and then she started having nighttime wakings.  she started to go back to her routine of good sleeping once we got home after two weeks away, and then we had to go out of town again for a funeral.  now she is up 3-5 times per night.  she will start crying, so i'll go in and give her a pacifier or re-swaddle.  she doesn't really wake up and she always quiets down and is right back to sleep, but sometimes it is every hour, 3-5 hours in a row and we're getting tired!  we just transitioned her to the 4 hour EASY schedule from 3 hour EASY and she seems to be fine with that, but it doesn't seem to be helping her sleep better at night.  the other thing is that her bedtime is around 10-11pm.  she has always stayed up this late.  if we try to put her down at 7pm, she just wakes up at 8pm ready to play.  she just doesn't seem tired at 7pm.  any advice would be VERY much appreciated!

jy

[*Mona*]

hi and welcome

1. can you post your routine with feedings, awake times, nap times and night wakings?
2. 10 or 11pm bedtime has to go! it's far far too late for a good night sleep to come after!

please, post your routine and we'll se what can be done

Monika

[jeyou2]

thanks for the reply. here is her schedule:

7am--wake up and eat
9am--down for first nap (1-2 hours) yesterday, she was still sleeping at 11am, so i woke her in order to protect the 2nd nap
11am--feed
1pm--nap (1-2 hours)
3pm--feed
5pm--cat nap (had to wake her at 6pm--didn't want her to sleep too long so that she might go to bed earlier
7pm--feed
9:30-11pm--this is when the last feeding happens and we put her down.  we usually don't put her down until she has gotten this last feeding down.  In the past, when we have tried to put her down for bedtime at 7:30 or so, she just wakes up an hour later and is ready to play.  We've never really tried the dreamfeed, because she's never asleep at that time! 

in case it's not obvious, she has awake time during the gaps above.  she is a very happy and alert baby and plays well on her own.  Also i should note that she puts herself to sleep.  when it's time for a nap or bedtime, we just swaddle her, put her paci in, turn on the mobile, and she puts herself right to sleep.

Her wake ups don't seem to be at the same time every night.  One example this week was that she went down at 10:30pm, was up at 12:30pm, up at 5am, then up for good at 7pm.  whenever she gets "up" in the middle of the night, she never really wakes up--just cries out and keeps crying until i put the pacifier in her mouth.  i don't ever pick her up, or talk to her, or give her food.  i just put the paci in and she calms right down.

One more thing--she has done the wake up thing twice today during naps!!! now this is invading her naptime.  ugh!

[*Mona*]

hm, can she be teething? have you tried teething gel on her gums?
and don't you find her paci being a problem here? because from what I see here is that she may be treating her paci as a prop... I suggest you try getting her back to sleep some other way- by giving her sth to drink or maybe patting her back. if it doesn't work, I think you would have to get rid of  the paci completely.
but first, make sure she's not in pain or uncomfortable.

which doesn't mean her bedtime is not too late...
I would limit her catnap to 30 minutes to have her reasonably tired at 7pm.
so your afternoon routine would be
3pm feed
5pm catnap
5:30 wake up
bath etc.
7pm feed
wind down
7:30 bed

she will be protesting for sure as she's used to much much later bedtime, but it's worth working on it as you will surely 'end up' with a better rested and not waking up at night baby.

what do you think?
Monika

[jeyou2]

thanks for the advice.  not sure about teething. nothing has broken through and she doesn't seem to be in pain.  she does drool a lot and suck on things, so maybe it's coming.  i may try to put her down for naps today without paci and see how she does.  i think she will probably do okay without it, but we'll see.  thankfully last night she only woke once at 5am.  i gave her paci and she fell right back to sleep.  then up for good at 7am.  however, she didn't go to sleep until her usual 10:30pm.  we tried to put her down at 7:30pm.  she fell right to sleep, but then was up at 8:15pm and we couldn't get her back down.  we tried shush pat and even a bit of PU/PD (our first time to try that).  she just wasn't having it, so we let her get up,  and she was happy as a clam.  when we saw tired signs, we put her to bed, again around 10:30ish.

we just recently moved to four hour EASY from three hour EASY, so part of it might be the transition. she is also recovering from her first cold, so there are a lot of factors here. 

Also, i'll try limiting her catnap at 5pm, so that she's tired at 7:30, but what do i do if she wakes up again around 8:15 or so, ready to play?  it seems like i may need to transition her to an earlier bedtime, by putting her down 15 min. earlier or so every few days, instead of all of a sudden putting her down at 7:30 instead of 10:30pm.  i don't know, what do you think?

[*Mona*]

hm,

I'd give it a go at 7:30 and if it doesn't work [and it almost surely won't for the first couple of days], go for gradual changing her bedtime just like you say.
if she wakes straight away at 8:15 or sth when you put her to bed 7:30, try getting her back to sleep first- no talking, dark room, pat shush or Pu/PD if she starts crying. and if all fails, well, just give her a minimum A time and back to bed.

limiting her catnap should help some thou. and great she only woke up once last night i didn't want to suggest PU/PD as I have never done it myself, but if you think you're ready to try, go for it too

good luck and keep us posted.

[jeyou2]

thank you so much for your help.  we'll give it a shot tonight. it is so nice to have this message board to get help and support.  i'm so grateful!  have a great day!

[*Mona*]

WE'RE ALL HERE TO HELP

LET US KNOW HOW IT GOES.

MONIKA